Tonight was the worst of my life. I’m here in my motel room with a couple cops outside. At least here I have a little security.
I guess those pictures Dean sent are from Chicago. That’s at least a day’s drive from where we are. But the phone is definitely in that apartment building. So either he doesn't have it, or he has a teleportation device.
So I went to the police station and they immediately had me take them to Dean’s apartment. I brought them up to speed with everything, and they finally admitted something was going on. They’d tried to contact the apartment manager multiple times, to no avail. People generally don’t ignore messages from the police.
It was me and four other cops - Robins, Morgan, Brown and Niles. When we pulled up outside and left the squad cars, I pointed out to them that the blinds in Dean’s apartment were closed once again. They agreed that someone must have been inside since I visited. Brown smiled bracingly and showed me his gun. He said there was nothing to worry about.
After punching in the door code, which I’d learned from Alex, Niles and Morgan went inside to make a preliminary sweep before they allowed me to accompany them. I told them the apartment number, but they came back to say all the numbers were gone from every door in the building. So I had to show them where to go. Robin and Brown stayed outside to make sure no one else went in. We’re in a small town, so they said this procedure was as good as they could make it. They didn’t have the resources to get a big team in here but they were in constant contact with the station and each other.
It was the same as it had been last night, mold everywhere. We all had masks on this time though. Niles mentioned that it was the strangest fungus he’d ever seen. They scraped off a sample for analysis.
The atmosphere was extremely oppressive. I got goosebumps as soon as we entered, and I saw Niles shiver a little. I felt eyes on me from all directions. It’s an unnerving sensation, feeling watched and not being able to find the source. I kept looking around, super on edge and twitchy, so much so that Niles put his hand on my shoulder and told me to calm down.
The elevator wasn’t working. The up and down arrows had been worn off the buttons and it didn’t seem that electricity was going to any part of the building. So we took the stairs. They gave me my own flashlight halfway up.
The third floor was even worse than the lobby or the stairwell. Mold seemed to be taking over the light fixtures and a few of them had dropped and shattered on the ground. The wallpaper was peeling and flaking off, and we had to step over debris and broken glass on our way to Dean’s apartment. I couldn’t get away from the smell.
They did that whole police thing, where they rap loudly at the door and demand whoever is inside to open up. Then they went in with their guns drawn. I lingered nervously in the doorway as I watched the beams of their flashlights bounce around, checking behind me every two seconds. Finally, Niles waved me inside.
The smell hit me in the face like a truck - that same rank, soily smell, combined with a more acrid, chemical note. They asked me to look around and tell them if it looked the same. It did not.
The couch cushions used to be cream colored, for one thing. Now they were the same gray-black as the curtains. They looked stained and rotten, and flattened with heavy use. It was as if the apartment hadn’t been inhabited in twenty years. Most of the dishes in the sink were broken and covered in green mold. The rotting smell in the kitchen was particularly bad.
The mirror in the bathroom was cracked now. The shower head was letting out slow drips of brackish water into a stained tub.
We went into Dean’s bedroom. The bed was still made and didn’t seem to be deteriorating. The glass from the mirror was piled on it now though. Morgan asked me to call Dean to see if his phone was still here.
I did so, shaking violently. We did hear a phone buzz, but it was very far off and kind of echoed, like it was coming through the walls.
Morgan and Niles flipped the mattress up and onto its side.
The first thing I noticed was that the underside of the mattress was completely carved away. Or maybe burned away. It was black and rotten, a concave shape. If I had touched the top of the mattress, I would have noticed it had been hollowed to only a couple inches thick. Because of this, there was enough room between the mattress and the floor for a full sized man to lay there in relative comfort. I felt like I wanted to puke.
The next thing I noticed was the cover of the vent in the wall had been torn away, taking plaster with it. It had been covered by the bed, but now I could see the deep black hole where the vent tunnel stretched back into the wall. I wondered who or what was in there.
Morgan was updating the other officers as to this turn of events, and said that whoever was in the building was probably using the outdated ventilation system to get around. He mentioned that all the vents might connect, and that they’d need a bigger team than this to explore the entire place.
I wanted to leave at this point. Niles and Morgan agreed that I should no longer be there. But they had one more favor. They asked me to call Dean for a second time. I did so, and we listened to the buzzing as the noise traveled up through the vent. Niles slowly bent toward the opening.
Something shuffled inside, pretty close to this wall, moving away quickly. Niles jumped back, startled. I could hear flesh slide against metal and the quick pattering of hands or feet. I closed my eyes and pressed myself against the wall by the door, as far from the hole as I could get. Niles and Morgan had their guns trained and were shining their lights inside. They didn’t see the source of the noise though.
“Let’s get the fuck out of here,” Niles said. He was clearly unnerved, and even Morgan seemed concerned. They both steered me out of there at a brisk pace.
I’m not really sure what happened next. One second we were all in the stairwell, me in front, them behind. Then I rounded a corner and they weren’t there anymore.
I started to panic as I swung my light around to look up the stairs and wait. Nothing. No movement. They’d been right behind me!
A stairwell in an apartment building, when the lights are out, is the darkest place in the world. I had to get out of there as fast as possible. I was crying at this point. I’ve never been more scared in my life. So I ran down another two flights and pushed through the first door I could find, screaming for Niles and Morgan
I hadn’t gone into the lobby. I could’ve sworn I was on the ground floor, but as I scanned my shaky light around I realized that I was in the building’s basement. Even in the dark, I recognized the long hallway immediately from the picture Dean had sent me a couple days ago.
Here it is in case you can’t remember. Like that but much, much darker.
I backed up toward the door, realizing I’d have to go back into that fucking stairwell. My ears were ringing, badly, and my head suddenly hurt like a bitch. There was a shuffling off to my right and, on instinct, I swung my light toward it.
Alex was standing there, his back to me, facing a large piece of machinery. His arms hung limply by his side and he just seemed to be staring at the pipes in front of him. Panicked, but also kind of relieved, I called his name. Slowly, very slowly, he turned to look at me.
He was smiling. Hugely. So big it must have hurt his face. As I watched, his lower jaw slowly dropped until he was just staring at me with this huge, open mouthed grin. Like he was so fucking excited about something.
But he wasn’t moving otherwise. He hadn’t even turned to face me. He was just looking over his shoulder.
Then I heard the scuffling again. It was farther down the hall from Alex, but he didn’t seem to notice. He was still just staring at me, silent and still and smiling. Almost apart from my own volition, my hand directed the light beam toward the noise.
I don’t know exactly what I saw. It (he?) was too far off to be sure, just out of range of the light. But it seemed to be belly to the ground, dragging its legs behind it with its front arms. It was terribly thin and kind of waxy white. And it was upping the pace, lurching toward me with those horrible popping noises every time it moved its arms.
I didn’t see its eyes or nose. Again, I wasn’t close to it. But it looked like the upper part of its face was just smooth, white flesh. But I saw its mouth - too large for its face, stretching up all the way to what would be its cheekbones. The teeth looked gargantuan - human shaped, but much longer. It was smiling, too. So fucking excited.
I stood there staring for what seemed like eternity, unable to scream or move. Then it stopped in its tracks, just before it came clearly into my light, and, slowly, its lower jaw dropped, revealing the black void behind those teeth.
That broke the spell. I was out of that basement in an instant. As I raced up the stairs I heard the basement door open again and someone chasing me, feet pounding quickly. I assume, now, that it was Alex.
All four cops were at the entrance, confused and panicked at my disappearance. I didn’t even speak to them as I burst outside. After that, I demanded to leave now. It was only once I was safe at the station that I explained what I had seen. With worried faces, the cops said they were going back there.
I’m leaving town tomorrow. I’m going back home. I’m done. I’m sorry, but I’m done.
Dean, Samantha, and Lisa... if you end up reading this, please let me know you’re okay. I love you guys.
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